3A high school football: Juan Diego soars past Cedar

DRAPER – Juan Diego wanted to make an early statement in its 3A quarterfinal contest against visiting Cedar City here Friday.

That statement came just 48 seconds into the game as Lars Gunderson scored on a 1-yard run to capitalize on Konner Kafentzis's recovery of a fumble on the opening kickoff. The Soaring Eagle never looked back as it marched into the semifinals with a 28-3 win over the Redmen.

"We knew Cedar City was a good team," said Juan Diego head coach John Colosimo. "We had two scores at the end that made it look worse than it was. We were able to get ahead by a couple of scores and that made them play from behind."

The opening scoring drive took two plays and covered 25 yards. Tana Vea, who rushed for 135 yards and two touchdowns on 13 carries, set up the score with a 24-yard run.

Cedar City's option-based offense was good enough to move into Soaring Eagle territory on its first two drives, but the Redmen turned the ball over on downs on their first drive and were forced to settle for a 33-yard field goal by Karson Newville with 10:27 to play in the first half to pull to within 7-3 on their second.

"We made some adjustments and I think we were able to contain the option after that," Colosimo said.

The Redmen turned the ball over five times in the form of three interceptions and two fumbles, and neither team established a passing attack.

Juan Diego quarterback Cody Stevenson threw three completions on seven attempts for 31 yards, while counterpart Jackson Carter was 3-of-8 for 21 yards. Carter also rushed for 48 yards on 11 carries for the Redmen.

Vea gave the Soaring Eagle a 14-3 lead with his four-yard touchdown run with 6:08 to play in the second quarter. The run capped a six-play, 62-yard drive. He also had runs of three, 39, and 11 yards in the scoring drive.

After a scoreless third quarter, Vea found the end zone once again in the fourth. After Cedar City turned the ball over on downs, the Soaring Eagle took over at the Redmen 44. Juan Diego needed only to hand the ball off twice to Vea as he carried once for a 31-yard gain and once more for a 13-yard touchdown and a 21-3 lead with 6:00 to play.

The final score came as the Redmen were simply trying to move the ball after recovering a Juan Diego fumble. Cedar City failed to get anything going as Carter was picked off by Dan Jimenez who returned the ball 15 yards for a score and a 28-3 lead.

Colosimo said giving up three points didn't make the win any less meaningful than a shutout.

"All it is is a win," Colosimo said. "That's what we wanted to do."

He said there are some areas that need work before the semifinals.

"I think we need to clean it up a bit on offense," he said. "We made some mistakes and didn't look really sharp. The one thing to remember is at this point there are no bad teams left."